A Fine Balance
by Rohinton Mistry · first published 1995
91% recommend9% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A sad but beautiful novel about hardship that changes how you see suffering. It offers emotional weight and lasting impact for readers seeking fiction with depth.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
A Fine Balance is Rohinton Mistry's eagerly awaited second novel and follows his critically acclaimed Such a Long Journey, the book that won three prestigious literary awards in 1991. Set in India in the mid-1970s, A Fine Balance is a richly textured novel which sweeps the reader up into its special world. Large in scope, the narrative focuses on four unlikely people who come together in a flat in the city soon after the government declares a "State of Internal Emergency." Through days of bleakness and hope, their lives become entwined in circumstances no one could have foreseen. There i
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…Other Stories from Firozsha Baag is set in a Parsi community within Mumbai. Fascinating stories that throw a spotlight on their integration, beliefs and everyday lives. Goes without saying, Mistry's A Fine Balance is probably the best book I've ever read. The story still stays with me years later and I look forward to re-reading it at some point. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3539.Rohinton_Mistry
on “How Indian Zoroastrians helped shape modern Iran” ↗Not that much fiction in this thread, so I will add A Fine Balance by Rohintin Mistry. It's the saddest book I've ever read but incredibly beautiful. I couldn't stop thinking about it for months
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?” ↗If anyone wants to “experience” some of this, check out the book “A Fine Balance” by Rohinton Mistry.
on “India lifted 415M out of poverty in 15 years, says UN” ↗…career and more personal development) 1. Finite & Infinite Games, by James Carse 2. Flow, by Czikszentmihalyi 3. The evolving self, by Robert Kegan 4. Man's search for meaning, by Victor Frankl 5. A fine balance, by Rohinton Mistry (fiction) 6. Lila, by Robert Pirsig (fiction)
on “Which book has inspired you the most in your career or personal development?” ↗A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.
on “Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?” ↗A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
on “Ask HN: What book had a big impact on you as a child or teenager?” ↗What books have you read in 2015 that you'd recommend to others, fiction and nonfiction both welcome. I'll start with a fiction book of "A Fine Balance"- Rohinton Mistry and a nonfiction book of "The Psychopath Test"-Ron Jonson
on “Ask HN: What are your recommended books from 2015” ↗…Stranger</i> and <i>The Myth of Sisyphus</i> and you've got enough satisfying "thinking material" for a nice long while. One more suggestion for fiction: Rohinton Mistry's <i>A Fine Balance</i>. This will FOREVER change your perspective on hardship while giving one a fantastic appreciation for living. I'm always giving copies of this rare gem as a gift and I have heard nothing…
on “Ask HN: Good books?” ↗I'm still waiting for Rohinton Mistry's next book. He published three amazing novels (notably A Fine Balance, which is a masterpiece) between 1991 and 2002. Then nothing except a short story in 2006. It's possible he has retired from writing, but there's been no news at all from him or his publisher.
on “The Virtue of Slow Writers” ↗86. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
I recently read a novel called "A Fine Balance" by Rohinton Mistry. One character, Ashraf Chacha, is a man who works as a tailor. He is extremely grieved by the death of his wife. He talks about how when she was alive it never bothered him to spend…
on “The Impact Github is Having on Your Software Career” ↗